Messy, Meaningful, and Mine: Starting My Digital Learning Blog

Hello! My name is Jennifer Haden and I have been a teacher for 15 years. Over the years I have taught band, music appreciation, music theory, and teen leadership. My favorite thing about teaching is being able to close the door to my classroom and make memories with my students- they are always the best part of my day! I am also completing my masters degree in Applied Digital Learning from Lamar University, and I love being back in school! I have loved school since I was a little girl, in fact, I used to wander around and say “I just want to be a schooler!”. I love learning new things and completing work that makes me proud. One of our classes we have to complete in this degree is Applying Educational Technology: Portfolio (EDLD-5303). I am new to the blogging world, but I am excited to have a place to reflect on my work throughout the school year! Navigating setting up this portfolio has not been easy, but it is something that I am proud to create and use in the future. 

Conducting my students at UIL Concert and Sightreading

When I first looked into the ADL program at Lamar, I did some research and found Dr. Harapnuik’s page.(Harapnuik, n.d.) As I researched the program I noticed there was a large emphasis on digital portfolios. When I got accepted into the program I was so excited to start my classes, but I had to wait a couple of weeks for classes to begin, so I decided to start creating my E-portfolio early. I did my own research and I found an article from the Association of American Colleges and Universities called “The Benefits of E-portfolios for Students and Faculty in Their Own Words” (Rhodes, 2011) and became excited when I realized that this was an opportunity for my voice to be heard  I was both excited and anxious! In a previous school district I had to create an E-portfolio but that E-portfolio was full of assignments that were not authentic to my classroom, it was just something I had to complete to be able to check out for summer break. It caused me anxiety and stress because I wanted to turn in a good product, but I truly didn’t care about completing the work. It just wasn’t meaningful for me since it only applied to core classroom teachers, but I was forced to complete it anyway. However, since this E-portfolio will be representative of myself and my work, I am hopeful that this site will be more of a reflection of who I am as a person and a teacher, and something I can have fun creating! 

One of my best friends in my district is an instructional technologist, and when I realized that I had to create an E-portfolio, she was the first one I asked for help. She suggested google sites or Wix. I looked at both options, and google sites seemed to be very user friendly, but I felt like I wanted to challenge myself. Unless you count Xanga, I have never really created my own website and I wanted to be able to add that skill to my toolbelt. I chose Wix because I felt like it was going to be more of a challenge for me to put together, and I love tackling new challenges!

One piece of advice I was given by Amber was to make sure that my E-portfolio represents me and my personality. This is why the site is pink, it’s my favorite color and it relaxes me! I also want this site to be a place where I can post my work but in an authentic way. I am excited to use Canva to create banners and posts for this site, Canva is absolutely one of my favorite tools to use! I’m also excited to use AI to create images and to explore website design. 

One thing that I have struggled with so far is the actual design of the website, and translating the site design to the mobile site. This is something I just do not have much experience in. I am watching different youtube tutorials and getting help from site designers that I know personally to be able to make this site as beautiful and functional as it can be. By the time this site is completed, I want it to look like a professional website designer created it and maintains it. 

Moving forward, I really want to focus on putting content on my site. I am not great at advocating for myself, so I can see this site being a place where I can put my professional accomplishments as well as my accomplishments in the ADL program. I am also super excited to start blogging- if you know me you know I have A LOT of opinions and I am always looking for an outlet for them! 

One thing I hope that creating this site does for me is help with my perfectionism. I know that this will be a work in progress, and publishing it while it is not complete will be something I will struggle with. I know that it is a necessary step in the process, but it makes me uncomfortable to know that people will see something from me that is not perfect. I am really hopeful that I will be able to let this site be a work in progress that I am proud of, and not something that drives me crazy! After all- progress is better than perfection!

Harapnuik, D. (n.d.). Creating significant learning environments. D. Harapnuik. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6991

Rhodes, T. L. (2011). The benefits of e-portfolios for students and faculty in their own words [PDF]. Association of American Colleges and Universities. https://son.rochester.edu/assets/pdf/aacu-the-benefits-of-eps.pdf